Steering handle extension for outboard motor



A. H. OLDHAM 3,456,525

STEERING HANDLE EXTENSION FOR OUTBOARD MOTOR July 22, 1969 Filed March 1, 1967 E L W H m E B L A Y B \W m /N s i 0.

ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent U.S. Cl. 74-544 1 Claim ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A steering handle extension for an outboard motor comprising two pieces of telescoping tubing having worm clamp means for securing the tubing to an adjusted length, a grip at one end of the tubing, the other end of the tubing being forked and pivotally secured to a short sleeve received within the forked end, a Worm clamp adapted to be secured to the outboard motor tiller, and a Y- shaped member having the leg of the Y secured to the last-named worm clamp and the arms of the Y bent parallel to each other and pivotally secured to the sleeve on an axis at right angles to the axis pivotally securing the sleeve to the tubing.

It has been proposed heretofore to use an extension which connects rigidly to the outboard motor tiller handle, but such an extension has the objection that it must be swung through such a large are it is not practical unless kept short, such as two feet long, and then the extension can not be easily reached from say the middle seat of even a small boat.

In an effort to overcome the disadvantages of the rigid extension, U.S. Patent No. 2,903,903 provides a rubber sleeve for connecting an extension to the outboard motor tiller. This, while an improvement over the rigid ext n sion, is not adjustable as to length, cannot fit on a plurality of tiller handles of different diameter, and the rubber sleeve tends to be either too stiff to angularly transmit rotary and swinging movement to tiller, or else too flexible so that slop and play results.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide an improved steering handle extension for outboard motors characterized by ability to fit and control a wide variety of outboard motors, readily adjustable for use with various size boats whereby best balance, riding or planing of the boat is obtained, and wherein the extension is connected to the motor tiller by a substantially friction-free universal joint.

In the'drawings, FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the steering extension of the invention connected to an outboard motor tiller;

FIG. 2 is substantially an actual size, plan view, partly broken away, of the extension of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a view taken substantially On line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

Looking at FIG. 2 of the drawings, the numeral indicates generally a round pipe clamp of the type sold under the trademark Sterling and including a stainless steel band 12 having diagonal slots 14 therein which slots are engaged by a worm screw 16 tangentially and ice rotatably secured to the unslotted end of the band. Thus, the clamp can be adjusted by turning the screw 16, with a screw driver, or a coin, to tighten down on a motor tiller from about one to about two inches in diameter.

Secured to the outside of the clamp 10 opposite the screw 16, as by a pair of circumferentially-spaced rivets 18, or by spot welding, is a Y-shaped piece of sheet metal 20. The bottom leg 22 of the Y is made an inch or more wide and is curved to the contour of the clamp 10 whereby rotary motion can be strongly applied to the clamp via the circumferentially-spaced rivets without undesirable springing of the clamp or the sheet metal.

The arms 24 of the Y are bent into fork-like parallelism to straddle a short length of pipe or tubing 26 and are pivotally secured thereto by a pin 28 peened at its ends to form holding heads. The axis of the pin 28 is placed to intersect the axis of the clamp 10 when the clamp is at a median diameter.

A piece of tubing 30 having a length of about thirty to forty inches and a diameter just slightly larger than the pipe 26 has opposite corners of one end cut away to provide bifurcated arms 32 which are pivotally connected to the pipe 26 by a pin 34 extending at right angles to pin 28 and as close thereto as possible without the pins interfering with each other. Thus, the axes of the pins are separated a distance just slightly greater than the diameter of a pin. The ends of the pin 34 are peened to form holding heads. A strong, low-friction, and low cost universal joint is accordingly provided.

The end of the tubing 30 remote from the universal joint is provided with a plurality of slots 36 and surrounding this end of the tubing is a clamp 38 of the same construction as clamp 10. A single rivet 40 or spot weld secures the clamp 38 to the tubing opposite the screw.

Slidably received in the tubing 30 is a second length of tubing 42 about thirty to forty inches long and provided with a rubber-like grip 44 at its outer end.

All of the parts of the extension are made of corrosion resistant metal, and with the clamps of stainless steel and operable with a coin as a screw driver, the extension is readily installed, removed, collapsed or expanded over years of trouble free service even though used around salt water.

The actual application to an outboard motor 46 is shown in FIG. 1 wherein clamp 10 is quickly secured to grip 48 of tiller 50 within wide limits of grip diameter. Next tubing 42 is slid in tubing 30 to position grip 44 somewhere near the center of middle seat 52 in a ten to sixteen foot boat and clamp 38 is tightened. Now the operator facing forward in seat 52 and with grip 44 held in his left hand can open or close the motor throttle by rotating grip 44, if the motor has such a throttle control, and/or can swing the motor tiller by moving grip 44 forward or aft. There is a point where tiller 50 and the extension get to dead center, but an operator quickly learns to swing the tiller with a little speed passed dead center or to angle the extension to overcome dead center.

What is claimed is:

1. An extension handle for steering and controlling the throttle of an outboard motor comprising two pieces of relatively telescoping tubing,

a slotted end on the larger of the pieces of tubing,

- a'worm clamp surrounding the slotted end for securing the tubing to an adjusted length,

a rubber grip on one end of the tubing, the other end of the tubing being forked,

a short length sleeve of smaller diameter than the tubing being received within the forked end and pivotally secured thereto,

a worm clamp adapted to engage the tiller grip of the outboard motor, and

a Y-shaped sheet metal member having the leg of the Y secured to the last-named worm clamp, the arms of 10 the Y being bent parallel and pivotally secured to the sleeve on an axis at right angles to the axis pivotally securing the sleeve to the tubing.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,615,418 10/1952 Aspenleiter.

2,826,052 3/1958 Stillwagon 6417 3,174,357 3/1965 Conklin 74-544 X FOREIGN PATENTS 692,868 6/1953 "Great Britain.

MILTON KAUFMAN, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 74480 

